Larry McMurtry

ARTICLE

"Go West, young man . . . " may have been the 1850 directive of Horace Greeley, but the most vivid storytelling to come out of the resulting westward stampede has been penned by Larry McMurtry, son and grandson of Texas cattlemen.

McMurtry's first novels dealt with life in the West but it wasn't until LONESOME DOVE, for which he won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize, that he met with worldwide recognition for being the master storyteller he is.

No other author has so thoroughly and delightfully debunked the ill-advised romanticism of the American West.  McMurtry's immense talent punctures the cowboy mythology with such finesse that the reader never feels the prick; we just joyfully go along for the ride of a lifetime.

Yet for all the brilliance of his sweeping Western sagas, I will always remember Larry McMurtry as the inventor of the irrepressible Aurora Greenway and the daughter with whom she is constantly at odds in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.

Forget the movie; the book is the real treasure.  Bursting its bindings with memorable characters, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT has held a place of honor on my all-time Top Ten List since I first read it.  Three readings later, I am still tickled by Aurora, her indomitable array of suitors, her feisty housekeeper, and her recalcitrant daughter, Emma.  I am still moved to laughter and to tears by the unflinching portrayal of a complicated mother/daughter relationship and by the trials and tribulations of Emma's marriage.

Nothing demonstrates the greatness of his talent more than McMurtry's ability to fashion a believable --- and lovable --- cast no matter what the setting.  He imbues his characters with motivations and desires universal in scope but charmingly particular in detail, whether it's a Vegas showgirl or an old West saloonkeeper, a contemporary mother or a pioneer wife, a depressed oilman or a phlegmatic cowpoke . . . or even a Comanche warrior.  The setting of a McMurtry novel has become synonymous with a Western landscape, but his writing is equally at home amidst the glitz and grit of Hollywood, Las Vegas, and New York.

An antiquarian bookseller who declares he was once afraid of shrubbery and poultry and who searches for the meaning of memory at the local Dairy Queen, Larry McMurtry is an American landmark in the world of fiction. Whether he's guiding us through sagebrush or skyscrapers, his literary expeditions are compelling, unforgettable, and fun.

Anyone who says otherwise can eat my dust.

   --- Jami Edwards

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BIO

Larry McMurtry was born on June 3rd, 1936 in Wichita Falls, Texas. He graduated from high school in nearby Archer City, which was later immortalized as the backdrop of the movie, The Last Picture Show based on his 1966 novel of the same name.  After receiving his MA from Rice University in 1960, he moved to Washington, DC in 1969 to focus on writing.  It is here where he opened what would become the first of three Booked Up, rare and used bookstores.  

Beginning in 1961 with the release of HORSEMAN, PASS BY, Mr. McMurtry is the author of over 20 books, two collections of essays and over 30 screenplays. Many of his notable titles have been turned into movies, including TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1975), TEXASVILLE (1987) and THE EVENING STAR (1992). He was the winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for LONESOME DOVE. He now lives in Texas.

STATS

— Larry McMurtry's father and eight of his uncles were all cowboys and ranchers.

— The first printing of his novel IN A NARROW GRAVE by Encino Press in 1968 is extremely rare due to the misprint "skycrappers" instead of "skyscrapers" on page 105.

— McMurtry worked as a book scout and dealer in San Francisco and Houston, Texas.

— In 1970, motivated by his own experience growing up "in a bookless region" of Texas, he opened Booked Up, a small chain of bookstores specializing in hard-to-find, out-of-print and used books.

— One of his three Booked Up stores is located in Archer City, Texas, only a few blocks away from the movie theater made famous in the Peter Bogdanovich movie based on his book THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.

— Texas State Travel Guide lists the Archer City bookstore as offering the largest collection of antiquarian books in the country.  

— Larry McMurtry's favorite writers are Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf.

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